Petrides running back Marquis Pickering made the most of his career-high 39 carries last week, rushing for a career-best 236 yards during a 40-12 PSAL loss to host Mott Haven.

The 5-foot-8, 140-pound Pickering also scored a pair of touchdowns for the Panthers, giving him a team-high six touchdown runs this season. The junior also has a pair of PATs.

“He’s definitely a talented, athletic kid. He’s a shifty runner,” said Petrides head coach Dave Olah of Pickering, whose previous high in carries this season was 16. “Our offensive line played very well, opening up a lot of holes for him and he really took advantage.”

Olah said he’d prefer to have balance in rush attempts, but with injuries to starting QB Dennis Richardson and running back Alexander Roman, they asked Pickering to take more of a work load.

“It fell on him to take the lead and he responded well,” said the coach.

The Panthers compiled 266 total rushing yards in their loss to Mott Haven, but Olah said they had their share of problems operating in the red zone.

“We moved it really well between the 25-yard lines,” said Olah. “But whether it was a penalty, a play for a loss or a turnover (first time all season the Panthers committed a turnover) we just didn’t have as much success in the red zone as we would have liked.”

Pickering, meanwhile, has rushed for 589 yards on 87 carries overall this season, good enough for an average of 6.8 yards per carry.

Richardson, who injured his shoulder against South Shore two weeks ago, isn’t expected to return for the Panthers this week against Automotive, according to Olah. 

APP’S FAVORITE TARGET

New Dorp quarterback Charlie App has enjoyed a terrific season throwing the ball so far, hitting nine different receivers en route to 1,174 passing yards and 15 touchdowns this season.

But without a doubt, Central Cougar wide receiver Edmond Samuel has been a favorite target. The 6-foot-1, 170-pound receiver has hauled in 28 passes for the team lead in not only receiving yards (582), but touchdowns as well (eight).

And as magical a season as App has had, he isn’t always perfect.

In fact, on his first touchdown pass against Beach Channel last week — a 9-yard pass to Samuel on a slant — Samuel did a superb job leaping in stride to haul in the toss.

The catch didn’t go unnoticed by App.

“The throw was kind of high, but (Samuel) did a great job jumping up and getting it,” said the senior signal-caller. “It was a great play that got us going.” 